Ladies of Lost Causes: rehabilitation, women offenders and the voluntary sector

Judith Rumgay
Willan Publishing (March 2007)

'They were a strength, a force to be reckoned with, within the probation world and within the hostel sector as well.'
Hostel manager

In this exceptional study, Judith Rumgay unearths a treasure trove of archive material on a remarkable project, the Griffins Society. She documents the radical contribution of women philanthropists and practitioners to offender rehabilitation. Drawing on archival, interview and observational sources, the author describes, analyses and evaluates a distinctive model of care provision by volunteer, upper middle-class women that has since been overtaken by the professionalisation of the voluntary sector. Rumgay skillfully illuminates the pathways of women into, and out of, serious crime; explores the dynamics of rehabilitative practice in the volatile setting of residential care; and also analyses the qualities of successful rehabilitative practice.

This book will appeal to academics and professionals working in the field of offender rehabilitation and those with interests in voluntary sector contributions to social programmes and social reform. It will have particular interest for those concerned with female offenders, female philanthropy, and the contributions of women to penal reform and gender-sensitive rehabilitation programmes.

Use of this website is subject to, and implies acceptance of, its Terms of use (including Copyright and intellectual property, Privacy and data protection and Accessibility). The London School of Economics and Political Science is a School of the University of London. It is a charity and is incorporated in England as a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Acts (Reg no. 70527).The registered office address of the School is: The London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK; Tel: +44 (0)20 7405 7686